In his second novel Floodlines which is published by Europa Editions this February, Saleem Haddad narrates the story of a multigenerational family in which themes about art, memory and cultural legacy are narrated through different perspectives of the family. Personal and historical grief within the family are addressed at different times through the loss of a family member and the loss of a homeland.
The novel is connected via social and personal memories and anxieties spanning the late 20th century and 21st century. But most of the present narrative is set during 2014 in which the Islamic State operated inside Iraq and Syria.
It’s the summer of 2014, when we get to know three long estranged Iraqi-British sisters, namely Zainab, Ishtar and Mediha, battling each with their own struggles and visions for their future. Included too is Zainab’s son Nizar, a war reporter, who is finding his own place in the world.
Spanning two continents, and mainly taking place during the 20th century, Saleem Haddad tells this tale in four parts, where we are witnessing different themes and subjects that are driven by these three strong women who deal with exile, memories of the past and war in the region.
Each of these characters have their own problems to deal with, and each character deals with their own issues, reflecting their pasts and presents, which connect them even though they don’t live in the same place anymore. While Zainab lives in Dubai, Ishtar and Mediha are living outside of the region, sometimes in London, sometimes in other places. They are estranged from each other, and don’t have much contact anymore. The past of their lives have destroyed many relationships within them, and while they are a family of three, they are mostly living without, although having sometimes occasionally dinner.
At the heart of their quarrel is the distrust and the different opinions on how to deal with the paintings of husband and father Haydar, who was a contemporary painter who founded a modern movement in Iraq during the 1950s.
When Saddam Hussein comes to power in 1979, Zainab is recruited as an informant for the new government. After President Hussein invades Kuwait, Zainab settles in Dubai, and Nizar in London.
Saleem Haddad’s debut novel Guapa focused on an alternative city and mainly on one character who was passionate and emotionally honest in the context of the so called Arab Spring. While the first novel was divided into three parts, and was taking place over one day, the second novel is divided into four parts, each part is different in length and content.
Floodlines opens with Zainab asking her son Nizar, who is a war reporter, to talk to her sister Ishtar, because the family story needs to be told. Nizar is hesitant because he doesn’t want to be drawn into the quarrels of his aunt’s problems. From then on, each chapter deals with a different time period of 2014 and each chapter is devoted to a special character of the family where we get to know their life stories and their interacting together.
Haddad’s dialogue is complex and well-researched. He has experience in depicting difficult subjects, and is not shy in telling gutted stories about his own characters which are drawn from his mind. Floodlines has a complex scope, but still remains deeply emotional within each character of the novel. It is a meditation on different personal aspects regarding the family depicted in the novel.
One of the centre stories in Floodlines is how the sisters are dealing with their fathers’ legacy as an artist and how his arts need to be shown to the public. Zainab was struggling with this project because she felt betrayed by her own sister.
In Haddad’s words, her feelings are described this way: “For years, Mediha and Bridget had sworn not to have any of Baba’s works. They had been lost in Baghdad, abandoned in the old family home, or looted in the chaos of invasion. They had lied. Her shock was eclipsed by a stronger,. More righteous emotion: rage, running live a river through her body.”
One other main center narrative is the story of Nizar and his partner Alfie. At first they have a beautiful relationship, caring for each other, having activities and going on trips. After a while though, the facade trembles and Nizar’s experience with the war in Yemen and Syria and Iraq left a mark on his mind, struggling to keep his relationship with Alfie.
While mostly the story takes place in contemporary London and Dubai, the timeframe switches to Bagdad of the 1950s where we are getting to know more and more the life of the family and their experience with the war and how they left Iraq.
This second novel of Saleem Haddad is different in nature from his debut novel, and the scope of Floodlines is more complex and has a broader historical background. While on the outside Floodlines looks like a drama about an estranged family dealing with their family’s legacy while on different continents, the novel is more deeply involved with themes and subjects like identity, forming their own identity in exile, queerness and of course history and how history shapes their own identity throughout the years. It is a very intimate story, especially those of Nizar and Alfie, where we get to know their difficult lives, which are not settled down in one place but are scattered throughout the world.
The most important aspect of the novel is that it tries to connect the reader with the characters by challenging the reader through the human nature of the story. The complex relationship is the hardbeat of the novel.
While Saleem Haddad has published different short stories in various publications, Floodlines may stand out as one of the most important publications in 2026. Saleem Haddad was born in Kuwait in 1983 of an Iraqi-German mother and a Palestinian-Lebanese father. He grew up in different countries and continents and his growing up is reflected in the new novel, although, of course, all the characters are fictional.
Tugrul Mende
February 2026
Tugrul Mende holds an M.A in Arabic Studies. He is based in Berlin as a project coordinator and independent researcher.
